Oracle Business Intelligence Applications

Book description

Implement Oracle Business Intelligence Applications

Provide actionable business intelligence across the enterprise to enable informed decision-making and streamlined business processes. Oracle Business Intelligence Applications: Deliver Value Through Rapid Implementations shows how to justify, configure, customize, and extend this complete package of BI solutions. You'll get a technical walkthrough of Oracle Business Intelligence Applications architecture--from the dashboard to the data source--followed by best practices for maximizing the powerful features of each application. You will also find out about stakeholders critical to project approval and success.

  • Optimize performance using Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine
  • Deliver timely financial information to managers with Oracle Financial Analytics
  • Enable a streamlined, demand-driven supply chain via Oracle Supply Chain and Order Management Analytics
  • Provide end-to-end visibility into manufacturing operations with Oracle Manufacturing Analytics
  • Optimize supply-side performance through Oracle Procurement and Spend Analytics
  • Use Oracle Human Resources Analytics to provide key workforce information to managers and HR professionals
  • Track the costs and labor required to maintain and operate assets with Oracle Enterprise Asset Management Analytics
  • Maintain visibility into project performance via Oracle Project Analytics
  • Provide actionable insight into sales opportunities using Oracle Sales Analytics
  • Enable superior customer service with Oracle Service Analytics

Table of contents

  1. Cover 
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. About the Authors
    1. About the Technical Editor
  5. Contents 
  6. Foreword
  7. Acknowledgments
    1. From Simon Miller
    2. From Will Hutchinson
  8. Introduction
  9. Chapter 1: Crash Course in Data Warehouse Survival
    1. The History of BI Applications
      1. Simon Miller’s Experiences
      2. Will Hutchinson’s Experiences
    2. Requirements for a BI Application
      1. Types of BI Applications (Kimball vs. Inmon)
      2. Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Approach
      3. Operational Reporting vs. Analytical Applications
    3. Conclusion
  10. Chapter 2: Don’t Reinvent Any Wheels
    1. Data Warehouse Primer
    2. What Is a BI Application?
    3. Why Buy, When You Can Build?
    4. Creating a Work Estimation Model
    5. Roadmap to a Custom Built Solution
      1. Design and Develop the Project Plan
      2. Develop a Competency Center Around Design and Architecture Best Practices
      3. Gather Detailed Requirements
      4. Perform Source System Analysis
      5. Perform Architectural Design
      6. Design the Physical Data Model
      7. Design the Logical Data Model and Review It with End Users
      8. Define Security Integration Requirements
      9. Design Test Plan
      10. Design the BI Semantic Layer
      11. Design ETL
      12. Develop ETL
      13. Test ETL
      14. Develop Reports
      15. Document the Application
      16. Perform Power-User Training on the BI Platform
      17. Perform Rollout to Production
      18. Test Performance and Tuning
      19. Perform End-User Training
    6. Bringing It All Together with a Prebuilt Solution
    7. Common Objections to BI Applications
      1. I Already Have a Specific Technology Investment
      2. I Have Different Data Sources, Not All Oracle
      3. I Only Need a Handful of Reports
      4. What About My Existing Data Warehouse?
      5. I Need to Implement EBS First
      6. How Do I Know This Will Be a Good Fit?
      7. I Can Build It Myself
      8. I Need an MDM Solution First
      9. My Data Is Too Dirty to Report On
      10. I Don’t Know What My Requirements Are and Users Can’t Define What They Want
      11. BI Applications Are Too Expensive
      12. What Happened to Discoverer and Daily Business Intelligence (DBI)?
      13. I Don’t Want to Hire an Implementer
      14. What’s the Point of Implementing a Prebuilt Application If I Have to Customize?
      15. I Already Have OBIEE, So Why Do I Need a BI Application?
    8. Conclusion
  11. Chapter 3: Oracle BI Applications Architecture
    1. OBIEE Dashboard
    2. OBIEE Ad-hoc Queries
    3. OBIEE and the Semantic Layer
      1. Physical Layer
      2. Business Model and Mapping Layer
      3. Presentation Layer
    4. DAC: Execution Plan and Dependencies
    5. Informatica: Mapping Walkthrough
      1. Universal Adaptors
      2. SDE Mappings
      3. SIL Mappings
      4. PLP Mappings
    6. Oracle SQL Developer: Physical Data Model
    7. What’s New with DAC 11g
    8. Security
    9. Upgrade Considerations
    10. Conclusion
  12. Chapter 4: Exalytics: Go Fast, Not Slow
    1. Primer on Data Warehouse Tuning
      1. Who’s in Control of the Data Design?
      2. DBA Objections
      3. Picking the Right Aggregates
      4. How to Implement
      5. How to Maintain, Monitor, and Refine
      6. Shifting Priorities Within a Month, Quarter, or Year
    2. Enter Exalytics
      1. How You Can Improve Your End-User Experience
    3. How Does It Work?
    4. Sample Case Study
    5. Exalytics and BI Applications
    6. Conclusion
  13. Chapter 5: Financial Analytics
    1. Description of the Business Process
    2. Comparing BI Applications to Other Reporting Options
      1. Financial Reporting Options
    3. Business Benefits
    4. Key Stakeholders
    5. Cross-Functional Analysis
    6. Subject Areas
      1. AR and AP Balances
      2. AR and AP Overview
      3. AR, AP, and GL Transactions
      4. AR and AP Invoice Aging
      5. GL Budget and Expenses
      6. GL Balance Sheet
      7. GL Cash Flow
      8. Profitability
      9. Revenue Analysis
      10. EBS R12 SLA Transactions
    7. Typical Configurations and Customizations
      1. Essbase vs. Relational Database Storage
      2. Out-of-the-Box (OOTB) Approach
      3. Alternative (Essbase) Approach
      4. Other Recommended Enhancements
    8. What to Watch Out For
    9. Conclusion
  14. Chapter 6: Order Management and Supply Chain Analytics
    1. Description of the Business Process
      1. Order Management Process
      2. Supply Chain (Inventory Management) Process
    2. Business Benefits
      1. Faster Receipt of Cash (Via Shorter Cycle Times)
      2. Raising On-Time Shipment Rates
      3. Lowering Finished Goods Inventories
      4. Better Visibility into What Orders to Ship at Month or Quarter End
    3. Key Stakeholders
    4. Cross-Functional Analysis
    5. Subject Areas
      1. Sales Overview
      2. Orders, Backlog and Invoices Overview
      3. Order Process
      4. Inventory and Backlog
      5. Backlog History
      6. Sales Receivables
      7. Customer Activity
      8. Order Lines
      9. Sales Revenue
      10. Orders and Invoices
      11. Backlog Lines
      12. Booking Lines
      13. Invoice Lines
      14. Pick Lines
      15. Schedule Lines
      16. Inventory Balances
      17. Inventory Transactions
      18. Finished Goods BOM (Bill of Materials)
      19. Customer and Supplier Returns
    6. Typical Configurations and Customizations
    7. What to Watch Out For
    8. Conclusion
  15. Chapter 7: Manufacturing Analytics
    1. Description of the Business Process
    2. Business Benefits
      1. Improving Manufacturing and Execution
      2. Increasing the Number of Perfect Orders Delivered
    3. Key Stakeholders
    4. Cross-Functional Analysis
    5. Subject Areas
      1. Actual Production
      2. Discrete Quality
      3. Kanban
      4. Lot Genealogy
      5. Material Usage
      6. Inventory Pegging
      7. Plan to Produce
      8. Process Quality
      9. Production Cost
      10. Production Plan
      11. Resource Usage
      12. Resource Utilization
      13. Work Order Aging
      14. Work Order Cycle Time
      15. Work Order Performance
      16. Work Order Snapshot
      17. Inventory Aging
      18. Inventory Balances
      19. Inventory Transactions
      20. Finished Goods BOM (Bill of Materials)
      21. Supply and Demand
    6. Typical Configurations and Customizations
    7. What to Watch Out For
    8. Conclusion
  16. Chapter 8: Procurement and Spend Analytics
    1. Description of the Business Process
    2. Business Benefits
    3. Key Stakeholders
    4. Cross-Functional Analysis
    5. Subject Areas
      1. Purchase Requisitions and Purchase Request Status
      2. Purchase Orders
      3. Purchase Receipts
      4. Purchase Cycle Lines
      5. Invoice Lines
      6. Supplier AP Transactions
      7. Supplier Performance
      8. Procure to Pay
      9. Employee Expenses
    6. Typical Configurations and Customizations
      1. Strategic Sourcing
    7. What to Watch Out For
    8. Spend Classification
      1. Description of the Business Process
      2. Operation
      3. How to Classify the Data
      4. Advanced Model Creation
      5. Integration with E-Business Suite iProcurement
      6. Final Thoughts on Spend Classification
    9. Conclusion
  17. Chapter 9: HR Analytics
    1. Description of the Business Process
    2. Business Benefits
    3. Key Stakeholders
    4. Cross-Functional Analysis
    5. Subject Areas
      1. Absence
      2. Compensation
      3. Learning Enrollment and Completion
      4. Performance
      5. Recruitment
      6. U.S. Statutory Compliance
      7. Workforce Profile
    6. Typical Configurations and Customizations
    7. What to Watch Out For
    8. Conclusion
  18. Chapter 10: Enterprise Asset Management Analytics
    1. Description of the Business Process
    2. Business Benefits
    3. Key Stakeholders
    4. Cross-Functional Analysis
    5. Subject Areas
      1. Asset Failure Analysis
      2. Asset History
      3. Asset Maintenance Cost
      4. Asset Maintenance Work Orders
      5. Asset Meter Reading
      6. Asset Quality
      7. Inventory Aging
      8. Maintenance Material Usage
      9. Maintenance Resource Availability
      10. Maintenance Resource Usage
      11. MRO Inventory
    6. Common Configurations and What to Watch Out For
    7. Conclusion
  19. Chapter 11: Project Analytics
    1. Description of the Business Process
    2. Business Benefits
    3. Key Stakeholders
    4. Cross-Functional Analysis
      1. Procurement and Spend Analytics
      2. Financial Analytics
    5. Subject Areas
      1. Metrics and KPIs
      2. Budget
      3. Commitments
      4. Forecasts
      5. Costs
      6. Billings
      7. Agreements and Funding
      8. Performance
      9. Revenue
    6. Typical Configurations and Customizations
    7. What to Watch Out For
    8. Conclusion
  20. Chapter 12: Sales Analytics
    1. Description of the Business Process
    2. Business Benefits
    3. Key Stakeholders
    4. Cross-Functional Analysis
    5. Subject Areas
      1. CRM Customer Overview
      2. CRM Forecasting
      3. CRM Orders
      4. CRM Pipeline
      5. CRM Products
      6. CRM Quotes
      7. CRM Sales Activity
      8. CRM Usage Accelerator Current
      9. CRM Usage Accelerator Summary
      10. Other Areas
    6. Typical Configurations and Customizations
    7. What to Watch Out For
    8. Conclusion
  21. Chapter 13: Service Analytics and Contact Center Telephony Analytics
    1. Description of the Business Process
    2. Business Benefits
    3. Key Stakeholders
    4. Cross-Functional Analysis
    5. Subject Areas
      1. CRM Activities
      2. CRM Agreements
      3. CRM Assets
      4. CRM Customer Satisfaction
      5. CRM E-mail Response
      6. CRM Orders
      7. CRM Products
      8. CRM Service Requests
      9. Customer Service Overview
      10. Enterprise Contact Center Overview
      11. IVR
      12. Service Delivery and Costs
      13. Service Delivery and Costs Overview
      14. ACD/CTI
      15. Agent Activity
      16. Agent Benchmarks and Targets
      17. Agent Performance Overview
      18. Contact Center Benchmarks and Targets
      19. Contact Center Marketing
      20. Contact Center Performance Overview
      21. Contact Center Sales
      22. Contact Center Sales Overview
    6. Typical Configurations and Customizations
    7. What to Watch Out For
    8. Conclusion
  22. Chapter 14: Making It Yours Without Ruining the Foundation
    1. Approaching the Implementation
      1. You Will Need to Pick an Implementer
      2. You Will Need a Governance Process
      3. You Will Need to Pick Your Team
    2. The Implementation Itself
      1. Security
      2. Multicurrency
      3. Analytical Workflows
      4. Multiple Languages
      5. Multiple Source Systems
      6. Multiple Tenants
      7. Multiple Time Zones
      8. Tuning
      9. EBS Flex Fields and Other Extension Fields
    3. Testing and Validation
    4. Training
      1. Rollout Plan: How Big a Bang Should You Handle?
    5. Dealing with a Source System Upgrade
      1. Why a Source System Upgrade Is the Ideal Time to Implement BI Applications
      2. How a Source System Upgrade Impacts an Existing Oracle BI Application
    6. The Role of a Steering Committee and Center of Excellence
    7. Adding New Content
    8. General Customization Guidelines
      1. Informatica
      2. DAC
      3. Data Model
      4. Adding New Columns End to End
      5. Modifying Existing Columns
      6. Additional Tips for Category 2 and 3 Changes
    9. How to Set Up and Configure Multicurrency
    10. Conclusion
  23. Chapter 15: Conclusion
    1. Going Live Is Just the Start
      1. More Data
      2. More Users
      3. More Complex Analyses
    2. Managing the Change
    3. The Role of Trust or Credibility of the Data
    4. The Self-Funding Roadmap
    5. The Roadmap Going Forward
    6. Case Studies
      1. Implementation Stories
      2. Business Benefit Stories
  24. Index

Product information

  • Title: Oracle Business Intelligence Applications
  • Author(s): Simon Miller, William Hutchinson
  • Release date: June 2013
  • Publisher(s): McGraw Hill Computing
  • ISBN: 9780071804158